Top 12 blogs of 2012

As a World Vision staff member, I find myself surrounded each day by stories, many of which break my heart. I'm forced to stop whatever I'm doing, gather myself, and say a prayer for someone I have never met.

Other times, my heart swells with hope, and my eyes are filled with tears of joy.

What these stories have in common is that behind each one is a person whose voice needs to be heard. Over the past year, the World Vision Blog has been filled with voices from around the world -- asking for help, grieving, or celebrating progress. These are our top stories from 2012.

I grew up in Calcutta, a crowded metropolis in eastern India that prides itself on its literary and cultural values. I was lucky to attend a school that taught the value of teaching, compassion, and contributing toward one’s society.

One day each week, we would go to rural elementary schools in the outskirts of our city and teach young kids for a few hours. Our principal said we were “creating ripples in the pond” -- her way of telling us that change starts with the individual. Keep reading…

November 2, 2012: Despite continuing problems with transportation, lack of electricity, and fuel shortages, aid is reaching some of the hardest-hit communities lashed by Superstorm Sandy.

World Vision began relief distributions in Far Rockaway, New York -- a peninsula almost wiped off the map as water surged in from the Atlantic Ocean and Jamaica Bay. World Vision communications officer Laura Reinhardt described Far Rockaway as “devastated.”

“All the stores are closed; there’s no power, no water, nothing,” she said. “People were saying to us that we were the first people there to distribute supplies.” Keep reading…

My dream of running for Team USA became a reality as I crossed the finish line of the men’s 5,000-meter Olympic trial. I am honored to run alongside American record-holders. This will be my second Olympic team.

It feels like I am a million miles away from where I might have been, had God not interrupted my life from the course it was taking. I’ve gone from being a “Lost Boy” of Sudan to a proud U.S. citizen who is loved and cared for by so many people in this country -- no longer “lost!” Keep reading…

Visualize this: It’s 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem. A crowd of Roman soldiers and community members gather around three crosses. You see Jesus, bloodied to a pulp, crucified. You smell impending death and hear a mixture of cheers, jeers, and sobbing.

All you want to do is run away so you can curl up in your own bed, desperate for any ounce of comfort and familiarity. But you don’t. Paralyzed, you stand and stare and hear and smell and feel.

In Cambodia last month, I met a young woman who, in a dramatic raid, had been rescued from the sex trade. Local police alongside the International Justice Mission stormed into the brothel where Ruse (not her real name) had been kept as a slave — and where she had been forced to sleep with roughly 700 men a year. Keep reading…

As Kris and the World Vision team get ready for the journey to Kenya, we had a chance to ask Kris some questions.

Read on to learn more about Kris -- and be sure to follow the tour, starting November 25, to hear stories of how the lives of children, families, and communities in need are being transformed by gifts donated through the World Vision Gift Catalog! Keep reading…

It’s popular in the press to judge a charity by its efficiency. Donors want to know whether their money is being used effectively, and journalists play a valuable part in keeping organizations accountable.

Without downplaying the important role the media play in this respect, I believe the public’s concerns about effective aid would be better served if the press also paid attention to slow-building disasters early on -- before they begin claiming lives. Inefficient responses to disasters can cost as much as 80 times more than a well-planned early response. Keep reading…

Recently, a woman approached me and asked if I could spare change for a meal. Without thinking, I said, “I’m sorry, I don’t have any money.”

My cheeks automatically flushed with embarrassment, and my heart sank. I had meant to say I didn’t have cash to give her. It was completely obvious that a lack of money wasn’t something I was dealing with. It was my birthday. I had spent the day exploring downtown Seattle and shopping with my friends. We were just leaving a restaurant, shopping bags in hand, when the woman approached. Walking back to our car, I was ashamed at the thoughtlessness of my comment. Keep reading…

Some people may be driven by a painful memory, a haunting fear, or an unconscious belief. There are hundreds of circumstances, values, and emotions that can drive lives. Fifteen-year-old Mao* has been driven by a painful memory since she was young.

Unlike other children, Mao didn’t go to school for long. She dropped out in second grade because of her family’s poverty. Moreover, family debt pressured Mao into the sex trade in order for her to earn money to pay for what her family owed. Keep reading…

Mother’s Day hurts for so many. Children, grown and growing, agonize over mothers who left or abused or stood by while others abused them. Women long to be a mother with a hunger that will not be satisfied. Others miss mothers who left this life too soon.

Some are mothers in all but name, overlooked and under-appreciated. This is the dark side of special days -- the pain of those left out of the flowers and chocolate and accolades. Keep reading…